Topic: Distribution List in Outlook

[thegallery]

MS fanboy here.

As much as I love Outlook for all my communication needs, I can't seem to create a distribution list directly from an email? The only way to create a list is to add them all individually from my contacts, or by hand.

What I want to do is create a list on the fly. When I post a "reply to all", and I see the list of addresses in the "To" line, you'd think it be simple enough to select the whole list of recipients and create a distribution list out of it.

I find I'm having to go back to old emails and do exactly that, every time. I go to my sent folder, find an email with all the recipients in it, copy the addresses and paste them to my new email. I wish it was just as easy to create the list out of them.

Often the people on the list are not necessarily in my address book, which adds to the problem of creating a list.

In summary; any idea if it is possible to create a list directly by coping all the recipients? tks

[Reno]

Are you using microsoft outlook or outlook express?

[thegallery]

MS Outlook, 2007 no less

[Reno]

I don't use outlook at all, BUT I do have ms outlook 03 installed. It looks like you can go to file export and export your address book into a format similar to a csv database list. That would mean all your addresses would be separated by a comma or something similar depending on how you wanted your data organized. From here you could edit the list in a spreadsheet application to get the list you wanted, save your original address book, or import a modified address book.

With office software like this there are always more than one way to solve a problem. If you can't decipher what i said try searching the help support. Chances are there's probably someone who's asked this very same question on a microsoft support forum before.

[thegallery]

good idea. I know what you mean by the multiple ways, it's just that I thought it would be easier. I've imported and exported lists before. I just wish I could do it automatically.

i wish I could show you exactly what I'm trying to do. I mean, it's literally copying the line of addresses. You'd think it would be a no-brainer to past them into your distribution list, but there is no way to do it

thanks again though...

[Simon]

Obviously I don't know what you've tried, so sorry if this is something you've already thought of, but if you get an email with a load of addresses you want to add to your distribution list, how about clicking View > Headers, which should then enable you to right click in the addresses bar, Select All and Copy, then Paste into your list.

[thegallery]

When I paste into the list it just pastes the display name and not the email addresses:

Here is an example. If I open an email from one of my groups of friends, I can say, Reply to ALL, and in the To line will be this:

'Mike' <mike@aol.com>; 'Cindy Home' <cindy@aol.com>; 'Cindy Work' <cindy@cnn.com>; 'Paul' <paul@aol.com>; 'Robert' <robert@aol.com>;

So I'll select and copy all the names, but no matter how I past it, in my new distribution list, or even to word, or notepad, only the names paste, and the distribution list, for example, does not recognize just the names.

There is also another selection where I can add members but that is for putting each person in individually.

It's only if I copy the names from one email header to another that it works. And that does me no good when trying to convert them all to a list.

On a side not, if I copy what I just wrote in the sample above, and past it into the distribution list, it work! But when I copy the same text form the header, it doesn't.

Or am I not viewing the header right?

I hope this all doesn't confuse you more!

[Simon]

I'm not really familiar with the Outlook Distribution List, so I have to admit to winging it a bit here, and I can't exactly recreate what you are trying to do, but, when you have copied all the email addresses from the 'To' line, open Address Book, go to File > New > Distribution List, then paste the copied list into where I have marked <<<<< Paste copied list in here >>>> in the image below.  This is the only way I can see of doing it, but there may well be a shortcut we are both missing.

[thegallery]

well done Simon in that that is what I'm trying to do and that is the dialog box I've been alluding too. But pasting only brings over the names and not the names and addresses.

The only way I can paste both is to paste it into another address bar in another email. Otherwise only the names paste. Same goes for pasting anywhere, such as Word, Notepad, etc...

I think something is happening when I copy the text that it only copies the names. When I paste it into another address bar Outlook recognizes the names and automatically fills in the addresses (the same way it fills in an address for you when you send an email to someone you recently were in contact with.

So I need to figure out how to copy the exact text on the screen an not just what outlook gives me. I will see if I can view the header online through the web mail server. But wow, I thought there must be an instant way to do this. 

[Clive]

I think it may cost you $30 (£15) to achieve your ambitions thegallery.     Take a look at  LINK

[Simon]

I think something is happening when I copy the text that it only copies the names. When I paste it into another address bar Outlook recognizes the names and automatically fills in the addresses (the same way it fills in an address for you when you send an email to someone you recently were in contact with.

How strange - when I did it, it copied both, but I had previously forwarded it to myself, in order to transfer an email with multiple recipients, from Mozilla Mail (my default client) to Outlook, in order to try out the process.

I think Clive's link may hold the answer.  I can't see any other way of doing it, and if someone has taken the trouble to develop a dedicated tool for the job, maybe it's just not as straightforward as one might think it should be?